“Beer geek” looks to tap into Castro Valley
A self-proclaimed “beer geek” wants to open a beer garden in Castro Valley. John Heylin, a former Peace Corps volunteer and entrepreneur who lives up the road in Canyon, will be opening Lamorinda Taphouse in early February in Lafayette. He sees potential in Castro Valley and has been exploring sites here …
What We Talk About When We Talk About Public Art
At the Castro Valley Fall Festival last weekend, Castro Valley Matters decided to do a coloring contest, asking people who stopped by the booth to draw their vision of what CV’s utilitarian (at best) and graffiti-covered (at worst) utility boxes could look like instead. To spur their imagination, we posted …
Skeptical MAC delays action on medical marijuana changes
A skeptical Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) discussed an update to the Alameda County General Code on Monday that would increase the number of medical marijuana dispensaries allowed in the unincorporated areas of Alameda County from three to six, reduce the buffer zones around dispensaries, and refer to it as …
It says something about a community when it has more dispensaries than grocery stores
As a resident of the unincorporated Eden Area, I would like to share my personal opinion regarding the fact that Alameda County is considering an increase in the number of permits for medical marijuana dispensaries in the unincorporated Eden Area (i.e., Castro Valley, Ashland, Cherryland, San Lorenzo). The County is …
Overwhelming support for Sprouts at MAC, but where does CV go from here?
On May 9, I attended my first Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) meeting. It turns out I was not the only one. A California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) appeal put into doubt the future of a new Sprouts grocery store at the current site of an underutilized Rite-Aid on …
How CEQA scuttles projects like Sprouts, even when it’s not about the environment
A half-empty Rite-Aid on Castro Valley Boulevard was about to be revitalized into a shopping center featuring a Sprouts grocery store. Now a law originally envisioned to protect California’s environment may scuttle the transformation of the eastern gateway to Castro Valley’s business district. Enacted in 1970, the California Environmental Quality …
Sprouts Project Cancelled
Sprouts is no longer coming to Castro Valley, according to an article published in today’s Castro Valley Forum. The developer of the project, Kin Properties, Inc., cited a recently filed evironmental protest against the project for cancelling the project, according to the Forum. Sprouts would have been located at the …
Haggerty’s Hyperbolic Castro Valley Math Doesn’t Work
At the February 2nd Alameda County Board of Supervisors Meeting, Board of Supervisors (BOS) President Scott Haggerty really felt “unloved by the people of Castro Valley.” A group of local citizens had come to comment on potentially electing the Castro Valley MAC. During the comments, a clearly irritated Haggerty interrupted …
How We Built the Old Castro Valley Library
One of the more popular conversation topics around town is “what the heck is going on with the old library building?” The Castro Valley MAC was asking the same thing of the County at the September 21st MAC meeting. Caroline Judy, the acting head of the Alameda County GSA (the …
Dear Mr. Greensfelder: A Letter to Daughtrey’s Developer from a CV Resident Wanting Vibrancy, Community Input
Developer David Greensfelder, who owns the Daughtrey building, will be giving a presentation “How Retail Site Selection Decisions Really Happen…the Inside Story,” at the EALI Economic Development Working Group meeting, tonight, May 7, 2015, at 6:30pm at the San Lorenzo Village Homes Association – 377 Paseo Grande, San Lorenzo. Castro …